When will we see 99% Democrats on the ballot?

I’ve seen accusations that this #occupy movement is just a start of the Obama campaign. I don’t think the President has any clue of how to mobilize these people, or he’d already be doing it.

The big question to me, is when will see see candidates grasping onto the movement? We have Tea Party Republicans, when will see a 99% Democrat, and what will they look like?

If I were to run for Congress in our new district- to take on the winner of Mike Turner vs. Steve Austria, and were to run as a 99% Democrat, here would be my platform:

Introduce federally funded political campaigns at all levels. No donations at any level allowed. Every voter would get a magazine, giving equal space to each candidate, who is welcome to run any kind of informational website that he or she wants. All candidates must debate- at least 3 times and the debates must be placed on YouTube and public access TV. National candidates would buy time on national TV. And, btw, campaign season is 6 weeks – no more.

Any company receiving federal assistance, or any kind of tax abatement, must have in place a pay scale that limits pay between the median employee’s paycheck and the top executive’s by a 20 to 1 ratio. This also includes any company that the Federal government buys from. No shell companies allowed, no layers of ownership, plain and simple, if you have a product or service you are selling the U.S. government, every single component, every single part that’s in it- is figured into your product offering and your employee payroll. This would stay in place until unemployment in this country is less than 6% and that the median household is making a living wage. After that, we can consider moving the ratio up to maybe 25x.

For the remaining one or two companies left on the planet that don’t accept our tax dollars for goods and services, and are “publicly traded” on Wall Street, new rules are put in place- or even re-enact Glass-Steagall for starters. It’s time to eliminate flash-trading altogether, and restore some connection between company performance and profitability with actual stock value- long term. The entire derivatives market can be shut down, as well as increasing the amount required to buy options to something north of 50%. It’s time to take volatility and computer generated roller coaster rides out of our economic system.

Since health insurers all count on government funds this would do a great job of eliminating the excesses of our stupid “health insurance” system- and maybe we can move to a true health-care system.

We’d leave Afghanistan and Iraq immediately, and start charging NATO countries and South Korea for their defense that’s been paid for by the American taxpayer- if we aren’t paid, we come home.

We need to simplify the tax code and the process of collecting and filing taxes. To start, it’s time for a national payroll tax system, where every single payroll tax is collected the same way, using the same portal, with simple calculations automatically performed and filed. No more W-2, W-3, 1099 and all the other BS. How much do you pay the employee? Where do they live? The taxes are automatic. It’s also time to standardize the national sales tax at 3% on every single transaction- which is then redistributed per capita to the local governments. If you have too much local government, it gets split up even more. Internet sales, brick and mortar sales- same thing. The only thing that I’d consider leaving out of the tax is unprocessed basic food items. Flour is tax free, Bisquick would be taxed. All fruits and vegetables are tax free.

The power to give tax breaks would only reside in Congress and must be applicable in broad categories. No more giving breaks to this particular industry or another.

If the candidate was super ballsy, he or she would offer to get paid the median income of their district too. What better incentive than to try to actually raise the standard of living for their constituents?

Is this the end all and be all of what a 99% Democrat would look like? I don’t know. As far as I know, there isn’t one out there (yet). What would you add or subtract to this?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! If you wish to support this blog and independent journalism in Dayton, consider donating. All of the effort that goes into writing posts and creating videos comes directly out of my pocket, so any amount helps!

Leave a Reply

I suspect the Dems will run another sacrificial lamb canidate, if they bother to field one at all. Id be willing to be the main action will be the GOP primary if neither Turner or Austria bow out, so we will be treated to the spectacle of these turkeys trying to outflank each other from the right.

Our politicians have given manufacturing jobs away and big companies now are paying little or no taxes, all perfectly legal because that’s how lobbyists working with politicians set it up. P&G in our neighbor city of Cincinnati did that BIG TIME. See article from Fortune. Those running for reelection are blaming the little guy, fire fighters, police, public servants and teachers for the downturn in our eonomy rather than looking at themselves.Click here: Procter & Gamble and the art of tax avoidance – The Washington Post